Chicken Croquettes, Italian Style
Chicken Croquettes, creamy on the inside with a hint of Parmesan, crunchy on the outside, are a great way of turning leftover roast chicken into irresistible fried morsels. Serve with potatoes and salad or vegetables, or with similar little dishes in an Italian style fritto misto.
Jump to Recipe
I’ve been making these moreish Chicken Croquettes for years. In fact, ever since I first saw the recipe in Claudia Roden’s epic The Food of Italy. I bought my copy in 1991 and it’s still one of the cookbooks I consult most often. Consequently, it’s looking rather battered these days.
Although Claudia Roden is best known for her writing about the food of the Middle East (her 1968 Book of Middle Eastern Food brought the cuisine to a wider British audience for the first time), she’s also written highly regarded books on the cooking of Spain and on Jewish food as well as this region-by-region book on Italy.
Chicken Croquettes
Crochette di Pollo, or Chicken Croquettes to you and me, comes in her section on Tuscany. The recipe says it will serve ‘4 or more’, but I have to admit that me and other half always polish off the whole lot in one sitting. They really are that irresistible.
One problem I do have, knowing how good they are, is that I almost always bite into the first one before I’ve let it cool properly. The result is usually a painful, burnt mouth as the hot, creamy filling bursts through the crunchy coating. But they’re worth it.
Happily, although the Chicken Croquettes are insanely good, they’re actually really simple to make. My version is almost identical to the original, with just a few minor tweaks.
The Chicken
First off, you’ll need around 300 grams of cooked chicken, chopped quite finely. Claudia says to use boiled chicken, but I always use the remains of a roasted bird.
There’s just two of us in our house, so when we have roast chicken we tend to carve off the breasts and serve those, freezing the rest for another day (except the hot, crispy skin: it’s the cook’s perk to peel that off and snaffle right away).
I find that the legs from a decent sized (2.0 – 2.5 kg) free range chicken, plus pickings from the carcass, give just about the right amount to make this recipe for Chicken Croquettes.
While the croquettes are certainly a satisfying way to use leftover chicken, if you want to roast (or poach) some chicken especially, then I wouldn’t blame you. They really are that good.
But please don’t be tempted to buy non-free range, tasteless chicken. And I say that on both animal welfare and taste grounds. There’s next to nowhere to hide in these simply seasoned croquettes and you want good chickeny flavour to shine through.
I almost always buy Packington Free Range chicken, based here in Staffordshire.
This isn’t a sponsored post, by the way! It’s just that Packington is good quality, relatively local to me and is widely available in good butchers or you can buy online.
Stiff Bechamel
Besides the chicken, the other major element of the filling is a very stiff bechamel or white sauce. If you’re used to making bechamel, then you’ll know that you first melt butter then add flour (forming a ‘roux’), cook it a while until you get a texture which is often referred to as being like wet sand.
However, because this is a very stiff sauce, the ratio of flour to butter is much greater than normal. So don’t worry if the roux doesn’t look quite the same as you’re used to. I barely cook it at all before extremely gradually adding the milk, whisking-whisking-whisking all the while, so there’s no lumps.
Once all the milk’s been added, I cook the bechamel a little longer than usual to account for the fact that the flour was barely cooked at the beginning.
Seasoning
The seasoning of the Chicken Croquettes is one of the areas where I do diverge from Claudia’s recipe.
Besides salt, pepper and Parmesan cheese, she adds a pinch of nutmeg. Now, I’m not the biggest fan of nutmeg (I even think it ruins a good egg custard tart) so I leave it out. But you add nutmeg if you want to.
What I’ve recently begun adding is a teaspoon or so of garlic granules. It’s up to you if you want to do the same or, if you don’t like granules, use finely grated fresh garlic.
To make the croquette filling, all you do is mix everything into the cooled bechamel along with an egg. It should come together into a nice soft mass.
Crunchy Coating
My other slight change from Claudia’s original recipe is in the way I coat the filling to get that crunchy exterior.
After shaping the mixture into little cakes, she just dips them in breadcrumbs before deep frying.
However, I prefer a belt-and-braces approach. Before covering in breadcrumbs, I first dip the patties into seasoned flour, then egg beaten with a little water.
I think this extra protection makes it less likely that the filling, as it heats up during frying and becomes enticingly melty, will ooze out and cause the croquette to come apart.
By the way, you really can’t get away with shallow frying or baking the Chicken Croquettes. They must be deep fried, either in a deep fat fryer or, as I do, a few at a time in a large wok.
I know many people aren’t used to deep frying these days, maybe scared off it by health warnings. But you’ve got to get that outer layer sealed all over and all at once before the filling heats up and tries to escape.
Anyway, the croquettes are an incredibly good, occasional treat, so put any worries aside. Get that big bottle of oil out and enjoy again the smell of roast chicken that wafts up as the little beauties sizzle away.
If you’re not experienced at deep-frying, please tap here for a guide to safe deep-frying
The recipe makes about 16 croquettes, using around a tablespoon of mixture for each one. That means you’ll need to cook them in batches. Keep the cooked ones warm in a lowish oven while you fry the rest.
Serving Chicken Croquettes
Claudia Roden suggests you serve Chicken Croquettes as part of a fritto misto (a mixture of little fried dishes such as vegetables, seafood, meats etc.) or with fried potatoes.
I think roasted, rather than fried, potatoes are less fuss. If you’ve been sensible and poured the fat that came out of your roasted chicken into a jar in the fridge, then use it to cook little cubes of potato. Sprinkle the potatoes with a few herbs and some chopped garlic if you like.
A crunchy salad dressed with a perky vinaigrette, or lightly cooked veg, will complete the dish.
These Italian style Chicken Croquettes are perhaps not something you’ll want to whip up after a long day at work.
But set aside a little time at the weekend to use up some roast chicken and you’ll be rewarded with an insanely good, creamy, chickeny, crunchy treat.
Chicken Croquettes, Italian Style
Chicken Croquettes, creamy on the inside, crunchy on the outside, are a great way of using up leftover roast chicken. Serve with potatoes and salad or vegetables or with other fried morsels in an Italian style fritto misto. Based on a recipe by Claudia Roden.
Ingredients
- 25 g butter
- 40 g plain white flour
- 300 ml whole milk
- salt & pepper to taste
- 30 g Parmesan cheese finely grated
- 300 g boneless cooked chicken finely chopped
- 1 egg
- oil for deep frying see Recipe Notes for a guide to safe deep frying
Optional flavourings (choose 1)
- 1 tsp garlic granules
- 1 clove garlic finely chopped
- 1 pinch nutmeg
For the coating
- 2 tbsp plain flour
- 1 egg beaten with a few drops of water
- breadcrumbs for coating
Instructions
Make a stiff bechamel white sauce
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In a small saucepan, melt the butter then whisk all the flour into it.
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Off the heat, whisk in a little of the milk to form a smooth paste.
Gradually add about half of the milk, whisking so that no lumps form.
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Put the saucepan back on the heat, whisking all the time until the sauce starts to thicken.
Little by little, add the rest of the milk.
Cook, whisking often, until there is no raw flour taste in the sauce (5-10 min).
Season with a little salt and pepper, then set aside to cool.
Forming the croquettes
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Take a large bowl and add the cooled bechamel.
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Add the Parmesan and chicken to the bowl.
Crack in the egg.
Season with a little salt and pepper, plus the garlic or nutmeg if using.
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Mix everything together until well combined.
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Taking approximately 1 tablespoon of the mixture at a time, form it into a small round patty. Slightly wet hands will make the procedure less sticky. Put the patties on a plate, board or greaseproof paper.
You should get around 16 patties from the mixture.
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For the coating, have ready on 3 separate plates the flour, the beaten egg & water, and the breadcrumbs.
Take one of the patties, coat it in the flour, then the egg and finally the breadcrumbs. Make sure the filling is well coated at each stage.
Put the patty back on the plate, board or greaseproof paper and continue coating the rest of the patties in the same way.
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Heat the oil for deep frying.
Preheat the oven to a low setting with a shallow baking tray inside.
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When the oil is hot, carefully slide in 3 - 5 croquettes.
Fry until golden brown (approx 5 min) then remove with a slotted spoon and transfer to the oven to keep warm while you cook the rest of the croquettes in the same way.
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Briefly drain on kitchen towel and serve immediately while still hot.
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